Press

FRAMINGHAM, MA – December 13, 2005 – Global independent research and advisory firm, Financial Insights, an IDC company, announced study results that review commission management solution providers and the future outlook for commission management tools. With both the SEC in the United States and the FSA in the United Kingdom introducing stricter soft dollar rules in 2006, Financial Insights believes that many buy-side firms will outsource commission management to only a small handful of existing vendors. In the report, entitled "Illuminating the Darkness: Market Players in Commission Management", Financial Insights estimates the commission management solution market at $81 million dollars globally with the bulk of the spending among tier 2 buy-side institutions.

"Considering the increased record-keeping burden that will likely be imposed upon the entire fund management community and the potential incremental revenue to be gleaned from compliance solutions, we are somewhat surprised at the inattention this market segment has received." asserts Randy Grossman, research manager for Global Capital Markets at Financial Insights.

Financial Insights also believes that many buy-side firms in both the U.S. and Europe are ill prepared for the increased compliance burden that will arise from new rules. The rules contain narrower definitions of the types of research and services they may spend their clients' commission dollars on as well as documentation requirements on how some research spending is allocated. This will force many firms to try to quickly implement a more rigorous commission management process involving one of the five vendors profiled in the report.

For more information on obtaining this study, "Illuminating the Darkness: Market Players in Commission Management" (FIN1690, Financial Insights, December 2005), please contact: sales@financial-insights.com.